The Cayman Islands are off the itinerary charts for all cruise ships until the end of the year, after the government officials approved the extension of the ban on all cruise arrivals to the Island. According to the news outlet Cayman News Service, the cabinet has extended the ban on cruise ships until 31 December 2021, leaving the possibility of their return on 1 January 2022, in George Town, Grand Cayman.

George Town, which is among the most popular ports of call in the western Caribbean, has remained closed to cruise ships since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Early this year Premier Alden McLaughlin said that it was doubtful that cruise ships will return to the Cayman Islands before 2022.

“Cruise is not on our radar at all at this stage. We would have to be satisfied that the world was in a very different place in terms of safety related to COVID-19 before we would even consider having the cruise ships come here. Honestly, I don’t see cruise tourism resuming on any significant level before next year.” Premier Alden McLaughlin said.

The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory of three islands, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. In 2019, around two million cruise passengers visited Cayman Islands, according to the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), making it one of the busiest cruise destinations in the Caribbean.